Timeless, and on time

By Published by The Editorial Board

Published: August 5, 2008

Mount Hermon has become the latest Pittsylvania County community to get a public library.

Years ago, news like that would have automatically been considered a good thing. Libraries are a traditional repository of a society’s knowledge, and public libraries have played an important role in raising literacy rates in this country.

But today, a bricks-and-mortar public library seems almost like a quaint idea compared to the amount of information that can be obtained over the Internet. Why open a public library when everything is already online, just a few keystrokes away?

Because it’s not.

Not even close.

The Library of Congress — the “largest library in the world” — has “more than 138 million items on approximately 650 miles of bookshelves. The collections include more than 32 million books and other print materials, 2.9 million recordings, 12.5 million photographs, 5.3 million maps, 5.5 million pieces of sheet music and 61 million manuscripts,” according to its Web site.

How much of that vast collection is online?

Just a million images have been digitized at the Library of Congress, along with half that number of other items.

With the world’s largest library digitizing such a small amount of the information in its collection, it’s obvious that a small local library like the one in Mount Hermon has a long and useful life ahead of it.

It took about five years of effort to get a library in Mount Hermon. Chatham, Brosville and Gretna already had branch libraries and the county had a bookmobile.

“After extensive research, it was determined that the area (Route 41) was not accessible to a library,” Lori Keith, assistant branch manager, said. “The people in the area needed a library. Some patrons who live in this area found it difficult to visit the Chatham, Brosville and Gretna locations. Even the Danville Public Library was a tad inconvenient to visit.”

Eventually, space was found at Mount Hermon Courtyard — the site of the neighborhood’s former elementary school — and the new library had a home. A grand opening was held July 10.

Like all public libraries, the Mount Hermon branch has the power to inspire, educate, entertain and uplift all who choose to support it. The community has been given a gift that can be enjoyed for years to come.